The Dragons Gem
by Ziggah
Summary: All fantasies stem from dreams.
1. Default Chapter

It was a day to make all days, incredible, the weather could not have been more pristine. You know the kind of day that can sooth even the most tortured soul. No? Well take the most wondrous day that you have experienced and attempt to imagine that day more perfect beyond what boundaries physics provide. The man was running this day. The man did not grow tired for such things were beyond him at this point. Which is a good thing for when you are in a race with fate, you would enjoy the ability to not grow tired yourself. The run was almost straight uphill. As nasty as uphill slopes come for that matter, the mountain had never had its peak achieved. Today that would change; it would change because it had to. The more complex elevations, which would have taken other men hours his determined limbs mastered in mere moments. Effortlessly he ascended, if a bird overhead were to describe the progress it would have to be a precise blur of movement that was one with the mountain.  
  
But nothing was watching the man, nothing natural anyway. "I will reach the summit first". The thought continuously echoed through his mind. "I must". He increased his pace seemingly in proportion with the difficulty of the trail he blazed. As if the closer he came to the summit the more one with the world on this day of all days he was. He reached the summit with such momentum that he nearly overshot it by simply rushing right past to the other side. He was there and he had won. Elation, freedom, release and pleasure with a side of pure exhilaration. He was here, he was alone he had won. The whole world was there for him cheering for him. He took a moment to take it all in. It was stunning. He scanned the broad horizon the fields and forests perfect greens; the lakes, oceans and sky perfect blues and finally the sun a wondrous yellow. Tears were streaming down his face this was the world he raced for this was utopia and he had saved it, he had won. He was invited to become one with it and he of course opened himself to it.  
  
Only then with his greatly extended senses did he notice it far off in the distance. A thing that could be only described as a disturbance. Doubt shot through him "have I really won?" He focused on the disturbance trying to right it. Trying to untie the knot in this perfect reality. The more he attempted to smooth out the disturbance the more it seemed to grow, the more weight it seemed to have. It soon developed gravity. Not gravity as we would imagine it pulling things into itself, more like the way water goes down a drain A cyclone of pressure, a cyclone of destruction. "NO!" He would not let it take away his newfound existence. He willed everything to remain and resist the horrible calling shifting gravity. It was like a grand incarnation of the battle of change and everyone's resistance to it. It seemed to be a stalemate the utopia refusing to give into the gravity, and the gravity refusing to not exist. But unlike the utopia, the gravity was growing stronger. Out of desperation the man who was now the world tried to harden to firm up. As the world answered that last request the gravity made a powerful pull. Existence began to crack. The pain was unreal. Then it all gave out and shattered. The shards flew away into the nothingness the gravity promised. The man who no longer was felt himself be consumed, the last things he could conceive were shards of a mirror twisting and turning reflecting a dreamland before they too were to fade into the darkness. "I didn't try hard enough... I never try hard enough". Then all was black. 


	2. Enter Markus

His eyes opened, he took in his surroundings. The sky was clear now, the snow had stopped and the moon was full. A frosty breeze blew in from the north causing the overhead branches to sway lazily and a bit of the powdered snow atop them to fall in a delicate ballet of reflected moonlight. He glimpsed a few stars between the bare branches and they tempted him to become lost among them. The campfire still burned simmering last nights stew, and making the nearly perfect circle of melted snow in which he was laying. The stew still smelled good. The rope keeping the pot just far enough from the flame to keep it simmering was still in place. The sleeping blanket was warm and well tucked in. Yes all was well and as it should be. Everything that is except for the rather large man, in armor that glittered in the moon light, holding a well oiled and sharpened sword to his throat. "Not a move Riely, not a move" Riely smiled "Markus, it seems you have finally caught me." Riely let a small smile cross his lips before he made his face calm and unreadable. He did not want to give away the surprise. "Don't appear so amused Riely, the king will be happy if I bring him your corpse." Hiding his amusement Riely put on his best hurt-face. "Markus you would kill me now? To think I once called you friend!"  
  
Markus was growing angrier by the moment. "I would rightfully kill a cretin such as yourself, what you did was beyond criminal" Riely almost laughed "Beyond criminal? Do you really think she didn't want me there? Your Code has deluded your thinking knight!" Markus's voice sounded through the trees as he shouted, "You will not insult her highness or The Code any further! Rise at once to be bound and gagged or be cut through like the swine you are!" Riely realized that Marcus must have been very angry. The knight did not even take time to gloat about disarming the alarm system Riely had set up around the camp. Riely mused over the skill Markus possessed. He had the make up of an excellent bounty hunter and solider, however he still fell short in some places and Riely was going to enjoy pointing that out. Riley was snapped out of his thoughts by an impatient prick on his neck, "Move pig this is your last warning." In one smooth motion Riely started rising and then fell back away from the blade at his throat. At the same time he kicked out with his foot. His leather boot landed squarely on one of the three logs holding his stew above the flames. The surprise was sprung. The pot's weight pulled the rope taunt, which untied a slipknot at the end of a sack hidden in the branches above. 6 rather large rocks fell out of the open sack and came crashing towards the earth. The rocks fell in a haphazard circle around Riely's sleeping blanket. Markus, in the few seconds this process took, could have probably attacked Riely or at least moved. Instead his eyes followed the events as they happened including looking up at the crashing noise just in time to catch one of the larger rocks on the forehead. Markus fell down under his weight and went unconscious. Riely threw his head back and let out a resounding laugh. This was far better than what he had hoped for. He thought his trap would only offer a distraction so he might escape from the larger man. Perhaps this was the start of a change of luck. He hummed to himself as he bound and gagged Markus in the rope and cloth that had been reserved for himself. Riely then looked down at the knight and abruptly stopped humming as a pang of regret went through his heart. He knew Markus would never be his friend again. Only a few short months ago Riley never would have thought it would go this far. He shook off the depressing thoughts as he realized what he needed was a new plan, not more regrets. Riley tried to think of the best thing to do with his captive as he shuffled through a small pouch attached to Markus's belt. He found a few useful supplies and a poster of himself drawn rather well but with the fiercest scowl Riely had ever seen. Riely tried to mimic his angry twin but couldn't manage to look quite as menacing. He laughed lightly to himself and continued examining the poster. It read, 10,000 crowns alive 5,000 dead. It seems his letter consisting of the message "healers can help with impotence" had found its way to the king. The effect obviously demanded another message. He rolled up the poster and put it in his own backpack to go with the previous two he had acquired 1,000 crowns alive 500 dead as well as 3,500 alive 2,000 dead. He wondered: what is the record for highest bounty anyhow? I'll have to look into that. Assuming of course that I make it to Wyrm's Hold. He grinned as he realized that his odds of reaching the city had just greatly increased. Markus was the most dedicated knight in Dragons Gate, with him out of the way he had little to fear. 


	3. Ugluk the Genius

Ug'luk is stupid. Ug'luk is a troll. But every now and again even stupid things come up with ideas. This is how Ug'luk's idea came into being. Ug'luk is hungry Ug'luk is always hungry it seems. Ug'luk wanted not to be hungry anymore so Ug'luk was doing what he did best. Ug'luk was hunting. Ug'luk smelled a man, the easiest scent to follow due to the power of it. He followed the scent, which eventually led to a large human. The human was staring at a piece of paper. Seeing his chance Ug'luk was about to attack when he recognized something. The angry human face on the paper was nothing. Most of the symbols and markings meant nothing as well. But Ug'luk as stupid as he was, was bright for a troll. He knew numbers, well knew very basic things about numbers. One of these things he knew about numbers was their use to show an amount of gold. Known in the villages and townships as Crowns. He didn't know how much 5,000 or 10,000 crowns were. But he had seen what was described as 100 crowns in an elf's attempt to buy its freedom. The elf was tasty and the ax he bought with the crowns lasted him quite some time. Now the large man had mentioned collecting the reward to the angry face on the paper. Why the man was talking to faces on paper Ug'luk would never be able to comprehend. But if the man could lead him to the money the paper spoke of then Ug'luk would probably be set for a while. Now a troll, even a bright one, making that many connections to form an idea to follow this man to steal this gold was amazing. Never mind it took him about 2 hours of fierce concentration and he nearly lost the scent of the man completely. But in the end he did form this idea and he did follow the man.  
Following the man was a good idea but unfortunately it did not solve the hunger problem which left Ug'luk in a predicament. He had to follow the large man but he also needed to eat. Despite how much he wanted to, Ug'luk had firmly decided not to eat this man no matter what, so that was out of the question. During day one of the mutual hunt Ug'luk thought of using the man's horse for a meal but realized that the man would notice the lack of a horse and probably realize something was up. By day two Ug'luk was starting to get really hungry. He thought, "maybe if I just nibbled a bit on the horse and left it mostly intact.... No no the man would notice that too and I would be caught." Now as day three rolled around Ug'luk was spending all of his free time trying to find a way the horse could have an "accident" then the man would leave the horse behind. Unfortunately his most creative idea involved a thrown rock, which he would have tried, if it weren't for the fact he couldn't find a big enough rock . This was maddening, for he had seen so many big rocks along the way before he had actually begun looking for one! By the forth day plans and such were beyond him. The horse and its potential to become a meal were all encompassing, the horse was life. He would eat the horse that night. 


End file.
